if you buy a new car and spec say performance front and rear diffusers and spoiler and an m sport bodykit and upgrade to 19" wheels in the eyes of the insurance is that standard spec (as you bought it) or has it been modified. alternatively if you are not all that clued up on say bmw's and you buy for example a secondhand e92 se that has a front lip and m sport skirts neither which are particularly noticeable could you be forgiven for thinking its standard spec?

if you buy a new car and spec say performance front and rear diffusers and spoiler and an m sport bodykit and upgrade to 19" wheels in the eyes of the insurance is that standard spec (as you bought it) or has it been modified. alternatively if you are not all that clued up on say bmw's and you buy for example a secondhand e92 se that has a front lip and m sport skirts neither which are particularly noticeable could you be forgiven for thinking its standard spec?

That is a really interesting question, I have changed my kidney's to black and I informed my insurer, however as you say how would the next owner know.

I had a VW Golf Edition 30 and VW gave it an extra 30PS from the standard 200PS. They did this by putting the Audi S3 engine in [265PS] and de-tuned it to 230PS. The previous owner to me had it re-mapped to 265PS and when I bought the car nobody told me this, so I did not pass this on to my insurer. I found out later as I question the sheer speed of the car and then found out the truth. I in effect had been driving without insurance [my insure informed me] with my children in the car! Can't say I was happy about the situation.

Same here. Once I'd advised them that there was no difference in the size, shape, or design of the grille, and that I was fitting manufacturer parts that were identical save for being a different colour, they made a note on my policy but didn't count it as a "modification".

It's standard if it came like that from new.
All the extra's you can specify, and as long as it came like that from new, then it's standard. Put a different colour grille on and it's modified!!
In my experience, insurers look "kindly" on modifications using manufacturer parts. Aftermarket will probably load the premium.

e.g. My car has aftermarket wheels. No loading as they cost less than £750. Different BMW wheels would not incur loading. Aftermarket more than £750 would load.

My lad's old Rover 200 (his first car at 17) was blinged up using Rover/MG parts. No loading on his insurance (that I pay!!!)

It's modified if it differs from the build sheet. If you have an accident, they will use the chassis number to identify the correct replacement parts and order accordingly.

But the chances are if your car came with say, one style of 18" wheels and you change them for another style of the same size, or if you fit OEM performance grilles etc, the repair shop or the insurance assessor won't spot the difference anyway.

I used to run a breakdown company and we had insurance guys in daily assessing accident damaged cars. In the 3 years I was there i never saw one check a car with more than a cursory look.

They would basically note the area of damage, check it was taxed and photograph the chassis number if it was accessible. That was if they even visited. Most of the time the big companies would phone up, get info on the damage (or ask us to send a photo) and they would decide if it was for salvage or repair. Any roof damage or fixed panels such as rear quarters was an instant write off.

We were a police approved recovery service so often had the boy racers cars that had flew off the road and were clearly not standard, but still no questions were asked.